Freedom
by Samantha20
Summary: While in Manticore, Max contemplates her freedom, even in her cage


"Freedom"  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel or any of it's characters. James  
Cameron and FOX do.  
  
Summary: Max realizes just how much her freedom means to her.  
  
Spoilers/Timeframe: occurs after "And Jesus Brought a Casserole"  
  
Rating: PG ***** A whistle blew. She didn't care. It didn't matter. None of this did. Nothing would matter until she was free. Freedom. It dominated her thoughts and awakened a deep yearning in her, like nothing she had ever experienced before. She also longed for her home and her family, especially Zack. But neither as badly as she longed to see a certain pair of blue eyes again. She closed her eyes and she could see them. Warm, happy, loving and gentle, even compassionate. If a person could have compassionate eyes anyway. It didn't matter. What mattered was freedom. Her freedom. The great American dream. At least before the Pulse hit anyway. Now, the great American dream was simply to survive. And she would survive. Because that's what she did. She was a survivor. It was what she was designed and created to do, that and kill. Survival of the fittest and all that. And she was the fittest, an Alpha predator and a down ass female at that. Before she had gone to Seattle, toting along her broken heart, survival had been enough for her. But then before she had gone to Seattle she hadn't been kept in a cage for eight years. The whistle blew again, disrupting her train of thought. She started back to reality, someone nudged her. "452, they're waiting for you." a voice hissed in her ear. She glared at the whisperer, only to hear the drill sergeant call her again. "452, we are all waiting for you. I won't call you again." He was staring straight at her. She glared at him, thinking briefly of snapping his neck. Just what she needed, another Anti-Christ. Max smiled to herself as she approached the drill sergeant. She seemed to accrue them, first Lydecker, then Renfro, now this sorry-ass son of a bitch. She knew that the drill sergeant wouldn't let her off for inattention. "Thank you for joining me, 452." he said sarcastically, "Attention is taught during basic training, soldier. What were you thinking about?" She looked at him again, directly into his eyes, smiling sweetly. "I've only been trying to forget basic training for 11 years. I guess it's not surprising that I forgot to pay attention." she paused as he glared at her, then continued. "I was thinking about how funny it would be if I snapped you neck." she laughed wickedly. "Move out, soldier," the drill sergeant barked. Max knew that she had unnerved him. Whenever she wasn't thinking about freedom, Logan, or escaping, she was thinking up new ways to frighten and infuriate her handlers. When she didn't move, he barked the same command at her, "Move out, soldier." She pouted at him. "No." He looked at her, shocked by her vocalization of defiance. She smiled her 'I'm so sweet butter would melt' smile at him, "You didn't say please." Before he could speak again she turned her head away from him. Inwardly she was laughing her head off. She hadn't imagined that this could go off as well it was. Out of the corners of her eyes she saw the DS gesture to several of the men to take her away. She felt the cold steel on the insides of her wrists as they snapped on the handcuffs, here no one trusted her. Even when she had been in the infirmary, recovering from her heart surgery she had managed to escape almost twice, and she had KO'd a dozen hospital personnel. Once the handcuffs were on, the guards forced Max down to the ground. Once sitting, she promptly slid her arms under her legs bringing the handcuffs around in front of her. The guards spoke to the DS in monotones, and once they dragged her to her feet she stood for a second, before smiling wickedly. She brought her hands up in front of her, and held them there a second before snapping her wrists apart. She laughed again, this was the best trick she'd come up with in all of the time that she'd been back at Manticore. This would earn her at least two weeks in solitary confinement. Most of the soldiers were frozen still, she smiled at them again. "I guess I didn't like your bracelets." She was still smiling as they forced her into a cell, and closed the door. It was dark in there, but Max didn't mind. She could see just fine and, anyway, she like the darkness. To her it was soothing and comforting. She sat down with her back against one of the walls, and let the darkness in. Curling it around her like a security blanket. In the dark she was safe. In the dark she could hide, not that she ever did. In the darkness she let her thoughts run wild. She felt her body become lighter, and she knew that she wasn't asleep. For just a few seconds she let her soul soar, high above the prison she was in. Freedom was her one desire, and in some respects, not even Manticore could take that away from her. 


End file.
